Yamaha A-S801 Integrated Amp unites analog and digital audio

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onyx cat

Audioholic Intern
Had McIntosh c-26 and 2505 at one time , real nice , wish I had it back , only 50/50 RMS but it sounded real good , maybe because it had autoformers , love the iron , cost and space is the problem now , I am retired and do not have that much $ for real good HIFI so I just get the best I can do , also married , the wife does not like all this stuff around , so try to keep it simple ..
 
O

onyx cat

Audioholic Intern
maybe you are right !!! , in a way I wish I never was a Audio guy , I would spend my money on other things that cost a lot less .
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
@onyx cat not one of the posts where you have quoted another post have any additional input from you....it's just not working whatever you're doing. Are you using a strange browser or tapatalk or ?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
maybe you are right !!! , in a way I wish I never was a Audio guy , I would spend my money on other things that cost a lot less .
Speakers and room are the primary ways to get better audio. WAF may not help much, tho :)
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Had McIntosh c-26 and 2505 at one time , real nice , wish I had it back , only 50/50 RMS but it sounded real good , maybe because it had autoformers , love the iron , cost and space is the problem now , I am retired and do not have that much $ for real good HIFI so I just get the best I can do , also married , the wife does not like all this stuff around , so try to keep it simple ..
Tight budget is even more reason to not get an amp and upgrade those speakers instead! You can get some good speakers with that amp money and you'll actually be able to hear an improvement!
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
If you need more power, you can save some money if you can find a used older models such as the A-S700 that is more like a real integrated amp. If you are practical minded, you could do even better by going with a last year model AVR.

Not that it would sound different but to go with the A-S801 would seem like a case of paying more for less. It is basically an 2 channel AVR with the video section, tuner and some of the amp channels removed. The rest of the components such as the preamp/vol control chip are basically the same sort of outdated/discontinued chips used in some of Yamaha AVRs. I know because I have read the service manuals. Then they added a mediocre DAC, the ES9010K2M that was mainly targeted for portable audio such as mobile phones, digital music players etc. You would be much better off with an integrated amp without a build in DAC as there are much better external DACs for less than $200.


Why are people so attracted to entry level integrated amps such as the A-S801 I have no idea. If one believes AVRs are no good for 2 channel music, then they should go for real separates, or at least real integrated amps, not AVR based ones. That's just my opinion.
Peng, I think given @onyx cat's budget and his current speaker situation he needs to switch gears completely and look at upgrading those.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Onyx I don't see a reply from you, just a quote. Did you look at the picture I made for you on the last page?
 
O

onyx cat

Audioholic Intern
Yes, looking into other speakers , I was just wondering if any one knew how to correct this distortion of the vocals when they hit a hi note , think my streamer may be clipping the hi end or could be the "leveling" of the TV on UTUBE video or Sirus XM (SP ) via my Sony blue ray streamer has also a problem , the Phono does not do this , but the over all sound is a little to bright for me , yes, new speakers but may be other things as well ..
 
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onyx cat

Audioholic Intern
yes, just click 'reply " like I just did .. Thanks
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
yes, just click 'reply " like I just did .. Thanks
None of your quoted replies are showing up. They're blank except for what you quoted. It looks like you're not typing anything at all. Completely blank. Every post you made with a quote is like that and we're not getting half of your replies. That is making it impossible for us to help you.

You type your reply underneath the text in the box that pops up like the image below. After you're done typing click the little gray box in the lower right labeled "Post Reply".

Screenshot_2020-06-07-12-34-57-2.png
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, looking into other speakers , I was just wondering if any one knew how to correct this distortion of the vocals when they hit a hi note , think my streamer may be clipping the hi end or could be the "leveling" of the TV on UTUBE video or Sirus XM (SP ) via my Sony blue ray streamer has also a problem , the Phono does not do this , but the over all sound is a little to bright for me , yes, new speakers but may be other things as well ..
Could be the quality of the source, how about trying another of higher quality?
 
O

onyx cat

Audioholic Intern
None of your quoted replies are showing up. They're blank except for what you quoted. It looks like you're not typing anything at all. Completely blank. Every post you made with a quote is like that and we're not getting half of your replies. That is making it impossible for us to help you.

You type your reply underneath the text in the box that pops up like the image below. After you're done typing click the little gray box in the lower right labeled "Post Reply".

View attachment 36933
 
K

kenwstr

Audioholic Intern
I used to sell hi end audio in the 70's , remember the Yamaha amps and receivers were hard to beat for the money , we had B&O, and Tandburg electronics as well but I likes the Yamaha stuff better and it was also lower cost , the only product better was McIntosh and I love the McIntosh gear and used to own it as well but I am retired now and just getting back to Audio , I may not live long enough to get my moneys worth out of MAC gear , but would love to still have it . Now I have a Yamaha 301 Int. Amp and going to upgrade it to a 801 , have polk Audio speakers ( OK for Now) , Thornes TD125 turntable and 3009 SME arm and Ortofon bronze , I would like to find a new stylist for my Ortofon M15e but seems like Ortofon does not make that anymore , stream from a Sony blue ray and also have a old tuner I put together from a kit ,a HH Scott LT112 , still works OK . My system now is OK but I do get this harsh sound from the tweeters on streamoing , tried some other tweeters and now a little better but still has the problem , maybe my streamer? , maybe the new 801 Yamaha amp may help as it has a better DAC …
Um, you only mention the harsh sound on streaming but not from other sources. If you’re not getting that problem from other sources, I'd say it's a streaming issue, not a speaker issue. Your streaming through a Sony BDP, what happens when you play disc? If the disc sounds OK, then it's likely streaming from maybe an mp3 file or maybe the service itself is nobbling the resolution, either will sound tinny compared with CD res or higher resolutions. If the disc sounds the same as streaming, it may be the DAC or some issue with the digital cable, can you try coax vs optical? There shouldn't be a major difference but may reveal a cable fault.

I agree with comments that speakers (and their passive cables) are generally the weak link in audio systems. Probably 90% of the time, you will not hear component upgrades because of this. Cables and deteriorated connections can IME make very distinct differences to the sound. Some speakers do best on zip chord while others do best on twisted or braided pair or quad, depends on the cable capacitance (or is that inductance, I forget) they are designed for. Major reason for the controvesy on this issue.

On the other hand, if the speakers are older than 10 years, the crossovers caps may have drifted out of spec and need replacing. Ribbon tweeters, can be overdone & sound harsh, great clarity if balanced well though. I like soft domes, seems a safer option to me. That said, I have experienced harsh sound form soft domes (ProAc EBT) on short (1m) thin cables. Upgrading the cable gauge, (same length) improved that and a more normal length was better still. Yeah, I know the cables don't matter crowd, I used to be sceptical on that too but trialling this proved to me that it can matter very much, though sometimes not so much. Like many things the answer seems to be "well it depends".

Anyway, best of luck.
Ken
 
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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Um, you only mention the harsh sound on streaming but not from other sources. If you’re not getting that problem from other sources, I'd say it's a streaming issue, not a speaker issue. Your streaming through a Sony BDP, what happens when you play disc? If the disc sounds OK, then it's likely streaming from maybe an mp3 file or maybe the service itself is nobbling the resolution, either will sound tinny compared with CD res or higher resolutions. If the disc sounds the same as streaming, it may be the DAC or some issue with the digital cable, can you try coax vs optical? There shouldn't be a major difference but may reveal a cable fault.


I agree with comments that speakers (and their passive cables) are generally the weak link in audio systems. Probably 90% of the time, you will not hear component upgrades because of this. Cables and deteriorated connections can IME make very distinct differences to the sound. Some speakers do best on zip chord while others do best on twisted or braided pair or quad, depends on the cable capacitance they are designed for. Major reason for the wars on this issue.

On the other hand, if the speakers are older than 10 years, the crossovers caps may have drifted out of spec and need replacing. Ribbon tweeters, can be overdone & sound harsh, great clarity if balanced well though. I like soft domes, seems a safer option to me. That said, I have experienced harsh sound form soft domes (ProAc EBT) on short (1m) thin cables. Upgrading the cable gauge, (same length) improved that and a more normal length was better still. Yeah, I know the cables don't matter crowd, I used to be sceptical on that too but trialling this proved to me that it can matter very much, though sometimes not so much. Like many things the answer seems to be "well it depends".

Anyway, best of luck.
Ken
Seriously on the cables? Such nonsense.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
The quote thing just isn't working the way you're going about it....thought you meant you were going to stop trying that! :)
 

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